"Sanju Samson is T20's present and future" - Aakash Chopra on the Rajasthan Royals' strengths ahead of IPL 2025

Former India player Aakash Chopra has picked the Rajasthan Royals' (RR) 'promising' Indian batting lineup as their biggest strength heading into IPL 2025. He pointed out that the likes of Sanju Samson are the present and future of Indian cricket.

RR retained four Indian batters - Samson (₹18 crore), Yashasvi Jaiswal (₹18 crore), Riyan Parag (₹14 crore) and Dhruv Jurel (₹14 crore) - ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. Shimron Hetmyer (₹11 crore) and Sandeep Sharma (₹4 crore) were their other two retentions.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener opined that the presence of talented Indian batters is the Rajasthan Royals' biggest positive ahead of IPL 2025.

"They have the Indian team's present and future. Sanju Samson is T20's present and future. Yashasvi Jaiswal is your present and future in Tests. Dhruv Jurel is the future. You can look towards Riyan Parag from that point of view," he said (2:30).

While acknowledging that RR's batting is slightly short on international experience, Chopra added that the youngsters would be keen to perform.

"So the Indian batters they have are all very, very promising, and that is thumbs up with both hands. They are very good. They have little international experience, but they are primarily young. I won't say they are inexperienced but they are not major superstars. All of them are hungry. They are all promising and young," Chopra observed.

Riyan Parag (573), Sanju Samson (531) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (435) were the Rajasthan Royals' top three run-getters in IPL 2024. Dhruv Jurel was their fifth-highest run-scorer, aggregating 195 runs at a strike rate of 138.29 in 11 innings.

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"The spin-bowling department" - Aakash Chopra on the Rajasthan Royals' perceived strength ahead of IPL 2025

Wanindu Hasaranga is one of the spinners in the Rajasthan Royals' IPL 2025 squad. [P/C: iplt20.com]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that the Rajasthan Royals have two overseas spinners in Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga in their IPL 2025 squad.

"Apart from that, the spin-bowling department. I sometimes feel that you can go with two overseas spinners only if you have Noor Ahmad and Rashid Khan in your team. That quality should be there. If that's not the case, going with two overseas spinners is a difficult one. They have chosen two Sri Lankans. One is Maheesh Theekshana and the other is Wanindu Hasaranga," he said (3:00).

The cricketer-turned-commentator didn't concur with the perception about the spin-bowling duo being RR's strength, highlighting that they are not ideal replacements for Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.

"Some people may see it as a strength. I am trying to see it as a strength but I don't feel it should be counted as a strength for the Rajasthan Royals. The ball turns on this ground and it's a big ground. They used to have Ashwin and Chahal, but now they have two overseas spinners replacing them. They are asking for a bit too much," he observed.

The Royals bought Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga for ₹4.40 crore and ₹5.25 crore, respectively, at the IPL 2025 auction. Kumar Kartikeya (₹30 lakh) is the only prominent Indian spinner in their lineup.